Theses - Urban Studies and Planninghttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7874
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 03:11:32 GMT2016-12-10T03:11:32ZUrban building energy modeling as a dynamic tool for sustainability planninghttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105072
Urban building energy modeling as a dynamic tool for sustainability planning
Bemis, Jamie (Jamie L.)
Cities around the world are actively aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat the negative consequences associated with anthropogenic climate change. The City of Boston is no exception-in 2011, then-mayor Tom Menino established the rigorous goals of reducing city-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 and by 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. Given the realities of finite time and resources, it's critical to identify the most effective strategies to achieving energy efficiency in order to meet these objectives. This thesis explores how urban building energy modeling (UBEM) can be utilized to develop high-impact community-led energy efficiency programs. UBEM is a recently developed type of bottom-up energy modeling that presents a number of advantages over past urban energy modeling methods- namely, the ability for comparing complex scenarios, and the ability to generate hourly load profiles for individuals buildings. In addition, literature suggests that community-based energy efficiency programs achieve higher participation rates than traditional information-based programs. This thesis combines the technical benefits of UBEM with the practical advantages of community-led energy efficiency programs to develop a context-specific and community-based energy efficiency program for the Dudley Triangle neighborhood of Boston. It then explores how this type of a program can achieve the triple bottom line objectives of creating high quality local jobs, reducing environmental impacts, and supporting a local economy.
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 33-34).
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1050722016-01-01T00:00:00ZBetween plan and project : identifying gaps in plan implementation through development projects in Santa Monica and Newtonhttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105071
Between plan and project : identifying gaps in plan implementation through development projects in Santa Monica and Newton
Chung, Esther, M.C.P. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This thesis explores the relationship between plans and their implementation through development projects. Specifically, it asks: Do local plans that specify priority sites for development lead to the approvals of those projects? To answer this question, I look at the recent planning initiatives and their associated priority development projects in two cities - Santa Monica's Land Use and Transportation Element (LUCE) and Bergamot Transit Village project, and Newton's Comprehensive Plan and Austin Street project. Specifically, I look at the permitting process of each project to determine if the plans had any role in facilitating project approvals. I conclude that while plans play an important role in defining community priorities, they have a limited ability to facilitate project approvals. Instead, I find that each city's specific legal framework around land use decisions, including state laws on voter referendum and local policy on special permits, play a much more definitive role. In light of underlying legal and political undertones around development, I offer two suggestions to cities aiming to improve plan implementation. First, facilitate direct ideation from community members through the appointment of citizen task-forces that promote citizen leadership and co-learning around community concerns, while maintaining traditional public hearings as a platform for structured support and dissent. Second, build up and maintain confidence in this enhanced task-force process by insulating carefully-vetted outcomes from outright repeal. Together, these recommendations encourage a more politically-strategic and engaged approach to planning, suggesting that plan implementation will occur best when legal mechanisms and community political will align with the vision set forth in a city's best laid plans.
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.; "June 2016." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references.
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1050712016-01-01T00:00:00ZToward a multi-scale participatory urban policymaking platform : co-designing Mass Transit using LEGO bricks, open data, and interactive pixelshttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105070
Toward a multi-scale participatory urban policymaking platform : co-designing Mass Transit using LEGO bricks, open data, and interactive pixels
Cheng, Phil Tinn
Rapid urbanization and industrialization around the globe have brought urban policymakers complex challenges such as chronic congestion, environmental pollution and socio-economic inequalities. With the rising adoption of and sophistication of social media and personal electronic devices, citizens are increasingly voicing their expectations and hearing those of others from near and afar on what they expect of their city governments. The planning and policymaking of the urban environments and transit systems, due to their complexity and traditional dependence on proprietary tools, have been, by-and-large, a process restricted to those who are deemed as "domain experts". As citizens demand more transparency of, and participation, in the urban planning process, how might policymakers reshape their traditional decision-making processes, to not just align the expectations of diverse interests, but also to make more informed policies by harvesting relevant data from the collective intelligence? This paper documents the creation and evaluation of an interactive, multi-scale, dual-interface transit information system that combined a LEGO-based Tangible User Interface (TUI), Augmented Reality (AR), and cloud computing-based, and interactive data visualizations into a new type of interface aimed at enabling the process of participatory planning. The prototype system used Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) planning in Boston as a pilot case and allowed trial users to see, create, compare and evaluate new transit scenarios. We found potential in the systems to not just convey knowledge related to the chosen topic, but also support social learning and induce change in behavioral intention.
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.; "June 2016." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-72).
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1050702016-01-01T00:00:00ZThe role of environmental justice in the fight against gentrificationhttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105069
The role of environmental justice in the fight against gentrification
Foster, Genea (Genea Chantell)
Nationwide environmental justice organizations are involved in campaigns to address gentrification within their communities. This thesis explores the ways in which these organizations connect the issue of gentrification to environmental issues and how they are using community organizing to confront it. This research is based on case studies of six environmental justice organizations with active anti-gentrification campaigns, located in Boston, Oakland, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Brooklyn. After years of organizing for brownfield redevelopment, transit justice, food justice, and climate justice they are finding that their community-led initiatives are gaining the attention of profit-seeking developers and gentrifiers. The Principles of Environmental Justice guide these organizations to protect health, preserve culture, and ensure self-determination, however, gentrification erodes each of these goals. They are further called to action because gentrification displaces the constituents whom their initiatives are aimed to support. Environmental justice organizations are using coalition building, partnerships, community engagement, and cooperative economics to challenge the systemic racism and classism within existing land use and environmental policies that promote gentrification. From these organizations, planners can learn to prevent gentrification through measuring the gentrification potential of their projects, creating interagency working groups, and promoting community-based planning.
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-101).
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1050692016-01-01T00:00:00Z